Mountain Ram

6 hours ago, Premier ram said:

We are hoping for a good night out in Barnsley after the game celebrating our 3pts

 

                

Treat yourself to a Barnsley cocktail - perfect victory drink!

On 19/02/2024 at 22:04, Jram said:

Emil Riis currently plays for Preston. Callum Guy has been very impressive in the last few seasons, albeit mostly in League 2 

Arguably Morgan Whittaker has gone on to show us he’s worth more than we thought but the club might argue selling him was a good option at the time.

Can't think of any other obvious ones tbf 

I think Timi Max Elsnick could also be added to that list. Appreciate he's now plying his trade in Slovenia, but his team are second in their top league and he's made 11 appearances for the national team. Think he'd have done a job for us, especially given what happened after he left.

I remember talking to a Blades fan I work with when we signed McGoldrick and he said he was rubbish in front of goal and he didn’t turn out too badly at League One level…

I can see Gayle scoring goals at this level, even after his slump in recent seasons. My bigger concern is whether we’ll play in a way that will give him that opportunity, but time will tell. 
 

Noticed this was being plugged on the BBC News app - good work! 
 

Derby County fan's mission to provide 'forgotten' player with headstone https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68068576

I keep seeing comments about us needing a proper defensive midfielder. Surely with 3 at the back that shouldn’t be a necessity? I could understand someone who’s a bit of a ratter like Shinnie, but not sure about needing an out and out defensive midfielder. 

Or, is this just an indictment that we don’t have the right CBs for playing 3 at the back?

First game of the season tonight, so I’m looking forward to being able to make some more informed opinions 😊 COYR 🐏 

For me it boils down to whether Bird is willing to sign a new contract with us. If he is, he’s invested in our project and likes the idea of playing nearly every match of the next season, then great. If he’d rather go to Hull for a pay rise and I imagine play less football, then fine, let’s cash in and bring in someone who wants to commit to us.

picking up a new decent midfielder to replace Bird and hopefully add more balance to our midfield doesn’t worry me as much as finding someone to inject some pace at the top end of the pitch.

Wildsmith          7

Smith                6

Cashin              8

Forsyth             7

Mendez-Laing    8

Bird ?               5

Hourihane         6.5

Roberts             6.5

Sibley               5

Osula               4

McGoldrick       10

Collins             7.5

Dobbin            5

Thompson      6

Wildsmith   6

Knight  8

Davies   7

Cashin   7

Roberts  6

Smith   5

Bird  6

Hourihane  7

NML   8: MOTM

Barkheuizen   5

Collins 6

Subs

Sibley  8

2 hours ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

I couldn’t get to the game yesterday but from what I’ve read sounded quite the occasion which both sets of supporters contributed to. I’ve also seen a lot of love on Twitter for Derby fans from Oxford, praising the atmosphere and noise saying we’re a proper club and they wish us well. Not seen such an outpouring of positive emotion towards us from an opposition set of fans for many a year. Exactly as it should be. I hope more visiting clubs will be like Oxford .

It was really nice seeing so many Derby and Oxford fans intermingling at the Smithfield pre match with zero issues (that I saw anyway). Hopefully a nice side affect of being in League One with no ‘history’ with most of the teams we’ll play - long may it continue!

Former West Ham u23 left winger. Scored one in five last season.
One for our u23s / challenge for the first team I guess? Need more wide players so makes sense if he shapes up. 

To me, signing Smith doesn’t necessarily means Bielik is on his way - could easily be an acknowledgment that with his fitness record we’ll do well to get half a season out of Bielik if he stays.

Spoke to a Villa fan I work with and he had a lot of good stuff to say about Hourihane, which got my hopes up we’ve got a gem at League One level.

In summary: good Championship midfielder who couldn’t make the jump to the Prem. Good on set pieces (which will be a nice inclusion to the team!), passing and shooting both good. The one negative was he’s slow. 
 

24 minutes ago, alram said:

my forest mate says he was dreadful at forest but is a decent player overall

 

lets see, we need bodys however good or bad they are

View from a Blades fan i work with: McGoldrick is apparently good at improving the team when he plays and bringing others into the game, but is terrible in front of goal. Would be more suitable as a no10 than the main striker. 

let’s see in due course the role we’ve bought him in to do. Hopefully we look to play to his strengths than playing him somewhere he’s not really suited. 

34 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

We should be on the trail of players like Isiah Jones and Zorba Thomas . They have 20 assists between them this season , both picked up from non league. Cheap wages, and a chance of a profit. Also look at Scottish football, we have had some truly superb players from across the border.

I’m struggling to guess whether you’re Nigel or Simon…

fair point re looking for non league bargains!

Don’t see why there isn’t a fourth option - the bidder offers to lease the ground and say buy it outright in 3-5 years time, with the value based on which league we’re in.

I get that a buyer couldn’t replace Pride Park for the cash Mels asking, but neither is the ground much use to him if the new owner gives him the Vs and goes down a more radical route. Paying somewhere between a nominal and market rent gets the deal done now (until the next sticking point comes out of the woodwork)

Needs to be some form of compromise to get a deal done and the stadium doesn’t need to be a day 1 deal blocker.

8 minutes ago, SirBrian said:

Meeting 15 mins old wonder if Parry is on the naughty step, would not fancy an angry Margaret going at me with all guns blazing!!

26 minutes ago, Half fan said:

Apologies.

Can members read for themselves today's Daily Telegraph Business Section critical review of the EFL?!

And then decide how it could help us?

Having read the article I’m not sure how it does help us? 

I think everyone can echo the sentiment written: It’s difficult not to conclude that we’ve seen gross EFL incompetence throughout this saga. A worthy governance institution should enforce rules in a timely manner and offer clarity. The FFP regulations are specifically supposed to ensure that members cannot get into these situations. On those grounds, the EFL has failed. While Derby supporters know that ultimate blame lies with Mel Morris, Derby South MP Margaret Beckett spoke for many in saying: “If Derby are to be liquidated, none of those involved will be forgiven.”

But the crux of the article is about not thinking that a government-led regulatory body would have necessarily done any better.

At best, something to add to the list of information @David is pulling together?

If anyone else notices something more significant, feel free to shout it out. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/20/footballs-financial-lunacy-cannot-tackled-red-tape/

There was a really good suggestion on the Colin Murray 5 Live piece that if Mel put the stadium company into administration and agreed to underwrite any potential losses from the Boro and Wycombe claims he’d give the Administrators a load more negotiating room (assuming they were also appointed for the stadium co) and hopefully we’d be allowed to name a preferred bidder. 
 

appreciate it has a minuscule change of happening, but should at least be lobbied for.

18 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Talking about us now on parliament channel.

Basically EFL rules...tracy crouch review

You can also listen via BBC Sounds - it’s on Radio Derby, started around 14:08 if people want to catch up. 

Finally getting some traction on the BBC too: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-60027177

The more I think about this 12 point deduction for administration the more unfair I think it is; it’s not actually punishing the owner that got us in this mess in the first place, it’s punishing the club and fans, by potentially condemning a team to relegation, reducing the chance of a buyer coming in (albeit in our case, it’s sounding promising on the buyer front) and then increasing the chances of liquidation. You’d think the EFL wants to protect it’s member clubs, rather than losing them?!

Surely it would be better for the EFL to instigate some form of bond scheme, where the owners lose their bond if they send the club into administration?

A points deduction for financial fair play seems a tad more sensible, or maybe the team is just banned from getting promoted for the next couple of seasons? It still needs a mechanism to penalise clubs that do a QPR and get promoted before they are scrutinised though. But the root cause still needs to be addressed and a system put in place so teams have to operate within their means.

rant / thoughts over - as this is the EFL nowt logical will happen!!

37 minutes ago, r4derby said:

I would have agreed until yesterday, when we had 2 strikers on in the second half but no one to provide service to them.

Its all about balance it seems. Couple of creators, couple of finishers. Bit less ball security and trying to find the perfect chance (Ravel guilty of this) and a bit more risk taking when it comes to that killer ball/dribble.

Agree with this - without service we’re going to struggle. We’re never going to be prolific at present, but we’re definitely not helping ourselves. 
For me, it’s time to swap Morrison out - David Batty would have made more forward passes than Ravel yesterday. Would be great to see someone like Watson given a chance. Can’t see it happening though!

24 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Think we’ll look very different after January 

Good thing you didn’t attach a year to that!

I have zero faith the accounts / embargo / takeover will be sorted by next January to enable us to push on again…sad state of affairs to feel like that when it’s still months away, but there’s not much, based on previous record, to inspire confidence… 

Moving Marshall on (though I’d rather have him than Allsop, but I guess saving on wages is more important than quality of backup keeper at present) and if possible bringing in another attacking player - noticed players like Jota and Mendez-Laing are still being shown as without a club, so there are probably other options out there who are worth a punt to give us a few more options in that area.

Don’t really get our obsession with Mengi. 

Look at what we’ve got in our own academy - Mengi may well turn out to be a better player than say Cashin, but at least Cashin is our player. Would much rather invest the time seeing what we can do with his potential than helping Utd. 
 

An exciting young forward / wide player on loan would be a different kettle of fish (as long as they’re not a no 10, not like we’re short of people who want to play down the middle!)